1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an active hood apparatus for a vehicle. More particularly, it relates to an active hood apparatus for a vehicle, which can absorb impact with a pedestrian and significantly reduce damage of the pedestrian, by lifting both front and rear ends of a hood upon collision with the pedestrian.
2. Description of Related Art
The hood of a vehicle is a part that covers the engine room of the vehicle and reduces the engine noise. Recently, active hood systems are being widely used.
The active hood systems lift hoods to protect a pedestrian upon collision with a vehicle. The active hood system is a sort of pedestrian protection safety apparatus that can absorb impact and reduce damage upon collision between a vehicle and a pedestrian.
As shown in FIG. 8, a typical active hood system includes a hinge assembly disposed at both rear ends of a hood 10 to serve as an opening/closing point, a hinge actuator 50 disposed near the hinge assembly to lift the hinge assembly, a pedestrian collision sensor 40 disposed at a bumper of a vehicle, and a controller 42 for receiving a signal from the pedestrian collision sensor 40 and driving the hinge actuator 50.
Accordingly, upon collision between a vehicle and a pedestrian, the pedestrian collision sensor 40 senses the collision, and the controller 42 receives a collision sensing signal and drives the hinge actuator 50. In this case, the hinge assembly is lifted by the driving of the hinge actuator 50, and simultaneously the rear end of the hood 44 equipped with the hinge assembly is lifted and pushes up a pedestrian to absorb impact.
However, in a typical active hood system, since only a part of pedestrian body is pushed up only by the lifting of the rear end of the hood, the impact-absorbing and damage-reducing functions are ineffective.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.